The Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, called for reaching “as soon as possible” a comprehensive and legally binding agreement on the operation and filling of the Ethiopian dam.
This came in a speech by the Egyptian President, Tuesday, via video conference technology, during the opening of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Egypt and Sudan exchange accusations with Ethiopia of being responsible for the failure of negotiations on the dam, sponsored by the African Union for months, within a negotiating process that began about 10 years ago, due to differences over its operation and filling.
The Egyptian president said: “You all know the outcome of the decade-old negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.”
He pointed out the existence of “intransigence and an unjustified refusal to deal positively with the negotiating process and to choose the unilateral approach and the policy of imposing a fait accompli”, accusations that Cairo usually mentioned against Addis Ababa, which the latter has repeatedly denied.
Al-Sisi stressed that the outcome of the 10 years “has become a threat to the security and stability of the entire region.”
He added, “Egypt remains committed to reaching as soon as possible a comprehensive, balanced and legally binding agreement on filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.”
About a week ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a presidential statement (15 countries) calling on the three countries to resume negotiations led by the African Union in order to reach a binding agreement.
On Tuesday, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose country holds the presidency of the African Union, Felix Tshisekedi, announced in a speech at the same session, that the dam negotiations will resume in the “near future.”
On the Palestinian issue, the Egyptian president said, in his speech, that “there is no way to stabilize the Middle East without reaching a just, lasting and comprehensive solution to the issue.”
He added, “Egypt stresses the importance of consolidating the ceasefire (between Palestinian factions and Israel) that was reached on May 20.”
Al-Sisi called on the international community to take the necessary measures to improve the living conditions of the Palestinian people.
And on Tuesday, the annual high-level meetings of the 76th session of its General Assembly kicked off at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, with the attendance of more than 110 heads of state and government of Member States (193 countries), and the topics of climate change, the coronavirus and Afghanistan topped the agenda.
